SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Coaches, by nature, have a purpose to everything they do or say. So Alain Vigneault wasted little time in issuing a public warning to his New York Rangers players on the heels of a 3-2 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night in the opening game of the Stanley Cup finals.

“One thing that’s real evident to me, and it should be to our whole group, is we’re not going to beat this team if we do not all bring our ‘A’ game; it is that strong of an opponent that we’re playing against,” Vigneault said yesterday morning.

About 14 hours earlier, the Rangers let a 2-0 first-period lead slip away and lost on Justin Williams’ winning goal at 4:36 of overtime. Los Angeles outshot New York 20-3 in the third period while scoring the tying goal.

“Our ‘B’ game won’t do it,” Vigneault said. “(The Kings) are one of the best teams I’ve seen in a long time. Areas to exploit, they don’t jump out at you.”

He went through the list of the Rangers’ conquests in the first three playoff rounds: the Philadelphia Flyers (“Physical”) the Pittsburgh Penguins (“more of a skill game”) and the Montreal Canadiens (“a real structured team”).

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